Daily View: US healthcare reform
US senators have passed the final Senate version of a historic healthcare reform bill.
The bill aims to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and could lead to the biggest change in American healthcare in decades.
The it brings Democrats a step closer to a goal they have pursued for decades:
"It would, as lawmakers said repeatedly in the debate, touch the lives of nearly all Americans."
The there is much that is right with the bill, but also much that is wrong:
"What should have been a moment of proud accomplishment for the Senate, right up there with the passage of Social Security and the first civil rights bills, was instead a travesty of low-grade political theatre - angry rhetoric and backroom deals."
, the leadership of majority leader Harry Reid played a key part in the bill's passage:
"Along the way, Reid's effort sometimes revealed an unseemly, if time-honored, side of congressional business as he struck bargains with senators who traded their votes for aid to their states or help for supportive interest groups."
The that Harry Reid had been singled out for praise:
"Reid accomplished what was long viewed as impossible: He drafted a comprehensive reform bill palatable to the both extremes of his Democratic caucus, moderates and liberals, plus everybody in between."
The it as a hard-fought battle:
"In the end, the Democrats will rise on its successes, or suffer the consequences of any controversy surrounding the bill - polls portray the public as wary about it, doubtful that it will help, worried that it will make things worse.
"And in the end, the Republicans, for better or worse, will rise with any public resistance to this measure, or suffer the consequences of being the party of No."
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